A major priority of being a field service technician is to build trust with your customers. You want to ensure that you can meet their needs and leave them satisfied. Cultivating an honest relationship and building value through your services will keep them coming back, retain long-term customers for your business, and grow your business.
1. Pay attention to your customer
Customers are most likely uncomfortable with having a stranger in their home, and their concern is already frustrating enough. It can be hard to break that barrier between you and your customer. When this happens, it’s key to pay attention to your customer. Listen and understand what they’re saying; don’t just listen to respond. Also, mirror their body language and pay attention to their verbal and physical cues. In return, this helps establish a connection with your customer and build rapport.
2. Don’t add in unwanted details
You’re the expert, and the types of customers you’ll come across can vary. On the one hand, you’ll get a customer who knows nothing about the job and the work involved. On the other hand, you’ll get a customer who is more technically inclined, asks a lot of questions, and wants to know every single thing that goes on. Despite this, as a professional, you need to make sure that you don’t overwhelm your customers with unnecessary information and jargon. For the most part, they won’t understand the technicalities, and it will end up frustrating them more than before. Be sure to use language that they can understand. Again, you’re the expert, and they called you knowing that. Therefore, be straightforward and honest — there’s no need for the extra details.
3. Build value
Customers these days research everything. When you tell them the price of the job, they might be surprised. They believe they know how much it should be worth, based on their prior research. In this case, explain the job in terms of systems functions, that way they can understand the job thoroughly from beginning to end. As a result, they’ll be able to understand the value in your work, which will help build trust.
4. Don’t sell what they don’t want
As a field technician, you know that there may be many upgrades and replacements that you can find for your customers. However, that’s not why they called you. To build trust, focus on the primary job first. Once you’ve solved their initial issue, they will come to you later for more work. If, after addressing their concern, you find that there’s more work that can be done, let them know and provide options. Don’t sell what they don’t need — instead, offer them options that will be beneficial and provide value for them.
